Lord Of Puppets

Chapter 205 – Crow Watchers – Part 2.

"So... If I understand this correctly... You are saying he is missing and you are suspecting him to be either dead or he had been working with the now wanted criminal group of adventurers, a B-rank party, Silver Talons?" – asked the man in black armor as the lord and the knight captain shared everything they knew about the current situation with the black knight.

"Yes.... However, if he had been the one who had called you... Then the chances of him not being the traitor seems.... Well...." – said the lord as he really didn’t wanted to speak up.

"..."

"I understand your suspicious." – said the black knight.

"However, we needed to stay hidden in order to not make any form of situation."

"As you already know, many people react to us... Differently depending on what they heard or saw us do."

"But still, it is maybe our fault for not allowing him to tell you about us."

"We could had saved a lot of trouble this way."

"For this, I’m sorry."

"..."

"Still, you said that you had lost track of the Silver Talons, yes?"

"Unfortunately.... By now they must had left our territory... And we don’t know exactly in which territory they could be." – replied the knight captain.

"I see..." – replied the black knight.

"..."

"First thing first, I’m going right down the business."

"As you may had read in the letter, our purpose here is to claim the golem dungeon and tame it."

"This is order directly backed up by the Duke."

(So the one who told them to get here was the duke?) – thought the knight captain.

"Then, how do you want to proceed?" – asked the knight captain.

"We are more than happy for you to take over and provide your forces. We can work together and-"

"I’m sorry, but I will have to decline this offer." – said the black knight.

"If anything, this operation will be conducted by us and us alone."

"No adventurers or soldiers outside our own force will be allowed to participate."

"?!"

"What the hell do you mean?!" – asked the knight captain as he stood up from his spot.

"!?"

"Sit down!" – said the lord at his knight.

"Look! I know you maybe powerful and everything, but are you sure about this?! You will be dealing with ARMY of monsters!" – said the knight captain who ignored the lord request.

"I may not had taken part in operation, but I’ve read the reports and heard directly from the people that took part in the subjection effort."

"I do know that you did brough quiet number of soldiers with yourself, including several knights."

"But are you sure about this?"

"..."

"Yes." – said the black knight.

"And there won’t be any change in this."

"Our Crow Watchers are the elites of the empire. We are far stronger than any ordinally army."

"Not only that, we can’t really let our guard down after what you just said."

"We don’t know why Silver Talons did that, nor we know if they worked for anybody."

"Not only that, there was also that wyvern attack."

"Right now we need people to investigate settlements and make sure they are safe."

"There is no way that the Silver Talons are working alone."

"There also good chance that whoever was controlling the wyverns may have other monsters in store."

"So, while we will go and deal with the golem dungeon, I want you to increase security, not only in the city, but also in other places and make sure that the territory is secured."

"Hm.... Makes sense." – said the knight captain as he finally stood down.

"..."

"..."

"Fine... I’m fine with this idea." – said then knight captain as he turned towards his lord.

"However, I also suggest we leave some additional forces in the city."

"If something does happens that wasn’t expected, please contact the city and have the forces come and assist you in your golem subjection."

"I understand and thank you for your concern." – said the black knight as he continues talking bit more with the lord and the knight captain, before then saying his goodbyes and leaving the mansion where a black knight alongside a soldier with somewhat sharp looking armor was standing beside him.

"What about the preparations?" – asked the black knight captain as he put on his helmet.

"They almost done." – said the black knight as he alongside the soldiers started walking.

"We should be done soon."

"The soldiers are also in good state, but the question is whenever we should spent day here or set up the camp outside the forest." – said the soldier.

"We spend a day here. Rest up the soldiers and stock up on supplies." – said the black knight captain.

"After everything is ready and everybody is rested up, we are moving immediately."

"I’ve already arranged for the place for our troops to stay and we also should be able to get some extra supplies from the lord as well, but not much, since apparently they need some in case of emergency."

"I see... Well then, things should be easy." – said the black knight as the group then left the mansion grounds.

(Well... Not exactly...) – thought the knight captain.

(We still don’t know much about the dungeon master or its abilities.)

(But from what we had gathered that dungeon master is not only highly intelligent being, but may also possess some powers.)

(Not only that, the last subjection raid which supposable met the dungeon master had went completely missing.)

(We don’t know what the dungeon master is yet either... Is it some sort of a beast?)

(Or maybe it is also a golem?)

"..."

(Still, I was able to secure some of the reports and documents regarding the dungeon, so maybe at least we will gain advantage against the golems in the first.)

The Crow Watchers stayed in the city over night, before then in the next morning they headed right towards the golem infested forest where the golem dungeon resigned.

After arriving near the forest, the Crow Watchers instantly took over the spot which was once used by the previous subjection party in order to set up their own camp where some remains of the old camp were still present.

"..."

(Who are they?) – and as they set it up, one of the scout golems spotted them from the top of the tree. A scout golem which was being currently controlled directly by the dungeon master with the help of his helmet device.

(Black armor?) – thought Thauma as it used the special feature of the scout golem, an item skill which was equipped to its eye - [Scope View], an item skill which enchants the scout golem vision in order to get better look.

(Who the hell are they?)

(I think they are.... Soldiers and knights?)

(But their equipment is different compare to those whom I’ve seen before?)

(Are they from somewhere else?)

(...)

(Or maybe they are the "empire" soldiers related to them?)

(Either way, they don’t seems to be wasting any time. They are already setting up their own camp.)

(Should I attack?)

(...)

(No.... Not yet.)

(What if they are really not "empire"? What if they are not related to them?)

(I don’t have any confirmation.)

(It could be straight up anything!)

"..."

(I will wait for their move first.)

(Depending on how things goes... I will raise my army and attack them.)

(...But for now.... I need to check.)

(I need to make absolutely sure that they are enemies.)

"..."

"..."

"So... Anything?" – asked the black knight captain as he was approached by one of the soldiers.

"So far, the golems didn’t seem to be making any moves. They had not been spotted yet.... But should we sent our scouts inside?" – asked the soldier.

"..."

"Not yet..." – replied the knight captain.

"According to the information, the enemy posses some form of monkey golem that is possible some kind of scout."

"We don’t know how capable those scouts are... But if we make wrong move now, we could provoke unwanted reaction right now."

"Play is slow and steady."

"Once we set up our preparations, our chances at countering the forces will increase tremendously."

"I understand." – said the soldier as he started walking away.

"..."

(I think I should make my report now. They would need to-)

"Captain!" – shouted the soldier from before as he ran up the knight captain who just tried walking away.

"There is a movement!" – said the soldier.

"One of the golems suddenly appeared amongst the trees and it seems to be heading our way!"

"...Lead the way." – said the knight captain as he alongside the soldiers headed towards the edge of the still setting up camp.

Upon their arrival, they spotted a single golem, which was already being aimed at by the archers.

The messenger golem which was used by the Thauma before to communicate with adventurers and with "Y".

The knights got ready to fight, by the knight captain stepped in and gave signal for his men to stand down as the golem started walking in their direction.

(According to the report.... A single golem appeared from the forest... A golem carrying a message... By any chance, is that the same golem?) – thought the knight captain.

The golem like before, began climbing up the hill, approached the camp... Before then stopping in place and putting down the scroll on the ground.

Afterwords, the golem turned around and walked right back to the forest, while the soldiers were ordered to let the creature go, making the creature return and disappear amongst the trees.

"..."

The knight captain walked down the cliff personal and picked up the fallen scroll, unrolling it in order to read the scroll content.

{"This is warning."}

{"If you are forces related to "Y", leave this instance."}

{"If you are the ones seeking the peace, only your leader will be allowed to come in to the marked location."}

{"If you move with large number of soldiers, I will attack."}

{"I will not bring my own army to the meeting."}

{"Decide."}

{"You have 1 day to take the decision."}

{"If the decision isn’t made when sun during next day goes down, I will see you as enemies to be exterminated."}

"A letter... Huh?" – said the black knight captain as he started walking back towards the camp.

"..."

"Should I ask?" – asked the man sitting on the box.

"No." – replied the knight captain as he folded the piece of paper in his hand.

"Nothing important."

"A desperation... Or maybe something else."

"Either way, we are going with the plan, no changes."

"Our orders are simple."

"Exterminate every single monster and capture the dungeon."

"We just do our job."